


The Original Family

by le_assian



Category: Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-02
Updated: 2013-04-07
Packaged: 2017-12-07 06:44:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/745502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/le_assian/pseuds/le_assian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They were once a family of eight. When death took its toll on the family, they fled to the New World in hopes of finding something better for themselves. But death seemed to follow them wherever this family went. We know how they turned into vampires, and we know what they are today. But at what point did "Together forever" mean nothing at all?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Birth

            Rebekah felt her lip curl and her stomach flip over as she watched the wolf more than five feet long be rent apart by her brothers, their heads bent over its thick neck. She couldn’t see them feeding, but she could hear the sucking, squelching noises of skin, muscle, and veins being ripped apart and the wet splashes of blood on her brothers’ lips. Involuntarily, she felt the ache in her gums and her skin tightening underneath her eyes. Even though she didn’t want to believe it, even though it had barely been a week of this nightmare that she was living, she knew what she looked like. Black eyes, black veins spindling from them, and if she opened her mouth a fine pair of fangs would be inside. A monster. That’s what she was. A freak of nature. Went against everything that even her own mother, the first and most powerful witch, stood for. And yet no matter how much she _hated_ it—hated _herself_ —she couldn’t stop the aroma of blood—heady, salty—waft up her nose, nor could she stop the thirst that made her mouth dry and her throat tighten.

            Even as she was beginning to turn away in the vain effort to follow through with her vow to never drink blood (like the same vow she made yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that…), Kol raised his head to glance up at her.

            “Care for a bite, sister?” he grinned up at her, looking ghoulish and like the demons and monsters in the fairy tales that Rebekah’s parents would tell her at night. Red blood painted his lips and chin like some strange and horrible mask. Blood dripped from his chin and snaked down his neck, staining his tunic. His long hair, pulled back for the most part, had a few strands falling forward. They were all sticking together with blood, becoming matted and wet.

            “No,” Rebekah replied tartly while her gaze flicked back to the wolf. Now that Kol’s _fat head_ wasn’t covering up the wound, she could see all the membranes and tissue and _blood_. There was so much _blood_. And Rebekah swallowed hard and closed her eyes even while she licked her lips and leaned forward a little.

            “No, I’m leaving,” she managed to say throatily, even though her feet were rooted to the spot. Even though her legs refused to budge. Even though the only thing she wanted to do was kneel in the muddy, leafy earth and join her brothers to devour an entire wolf raw.

            Kol shrugged unconcernedly. “More for me,” he said cheerily before going back to the throat of the creature. Finn and Klaus, the only blonde head in the entire bunch, kept to sucking on the wolf. Elijah, however, forever the dependable older brother, looked up. He was considerably _cleaner_ than Kol, the blood only staining a bit past his lower lip, and there were only a few blood splatters on his cheeks and forehead (he was the one that killed the wolf in the first place). He had kept his wavy hair down, but, incredibly, it was impeccably clean and relatively untangled. It chilled and scared Rebekah that Elijah had adjusted so well so quickly. Or rather, that all of her brothers had adjusted so quickly, Kol the most excitedly and savagely, Finn warily and dejectedly, Elijah cautiously and carefully, and Niklaus. _Niklaus_. No, he wasn’t as ferocious as Kol and outwardly celebrating each night, but nor was he paying any mind to possible consequences or future pains. He wasn’t enjoying himself. Not just that. He was _euphoric._ He had hit the height of his life and he had eternity to enjoy it. And he _knew it._

            “Rebekah,” Elijah sighed, rubbing the blood off his mouth as he straightened and approached her. He adopted his “it’s time for a family talk” face.

            “I know that this isn’t the life you imagined for us,” he began, but she cut him off.

            “We are devouring wolves, deer, bobcats… _a mountain lion,_ Elijah!” Rebekah exploded, throwing her hands into the air. Elijah shifted his weight uncomfortably between his two feet and glanced around the empty wood, as if worried that someone would find them so deep within it.

            “Look at us!” she shouted, taking one of her own hands and pointing to her mouth. She opened it demonstratively to show off her fangs. Her brothers looked up from the wolf—Kol the last out of the remaining three—to stare at her.

            “We are monsters,” she proclaimed. “We’re evil! We’re freaks! We aren’t normal.”

            “Rebek—”

            “Our own _mother,_ ” she shouted over Elijah’s warning tone, “thinks we’re _abominations_ of _nature itself._ Don’t try and tell me now to worry about this, Elijah. We have to drink _blood_ to survive. We have _fangs._ Our eyes turn _black_ whenever we _eat_. Don’t tell me it’s going to be alright. Don’t tell me we’re not monsters, because we—”

            “ _Rebekah_ ,” Elijah finally cut through her tirade, eyes shut as he masterfully gathered his patience. His hand was raised to calm her as Klaus and Finn inched a little closer. Kol hanged back, glancing regrettably at the half-eaten wolf before trailing behind.

            “Calm down,” Elijah entreated her. When her breathing had gone down to a considerably easier pace, he continued, “Rebekah, sister, do I seem like a monster to you?”

            Rebekah hesitated, knowing what he was about to do. He was going to pull some sort of psychological, twisted-in-his-own-favor logic on her. She had experienced it many times, whether it was to convince mother that it wasn’t her that broke the vase or that Niklaus really wasn’t as volatile as he seemed. The way he did it was with actual truths, using her own emotions and feelings to somehow make her agree with all of _his_ logic, and then pile on bluffs and half-truths that somehow made sense because of the _real_ truths that he made early on. Strategic logic is what he did, with a dash of emotional manipulation. Rebekah didn’t like it, but she had never been able to quite outsmart him. As far as she knew, none of them really had, except for maybe Niklaus—when Elijah was being lazy or forgiving.

            “Rebekah,” Elijah sighed again, as if he was a little hurt by what she had said earlier. “Do any of us seem like _monsters_?”

            He said “monsters” in such a way that it took on a meaning that was somehow more horrible and terrible than Rebekah had originally meant it. It was somehow more painful, more offensive, more disgusting and demeaning and dehumanizing than ever. As if Elijah couldn’t believe that Rebekah would call them such a thing. _What self-respecting person would ever utter such a word?_ his expression asked her. _What self-respecting person would call his_ family _such a word?_

“No,” Rebekah finally muttered unwillingly, but she didn’t like lying to Elijah. His personality, his morality, made it hard for anyone to lie to him in good conscience. It was the sort of person he was.

            “No,” Elijah repeated, smiling a little with relief. He came forward another step. “Now, what you say is true. What mother has made us is truly against what nature decreed.”

            Slowly, Rebekah nodded.

            “But,” Elijah held up a single finger, “we aren’t _monsters_. We’re still family. We still feel, we still have emotions.” Elijah paused for a moment. “More so than ever, really, I would say. Wouldn’t you?”

            And indeed, Rebekah knew exactly what Elijah was talking about. They all did. Everything was… _heightened._ Everything was _louder, stronger,_ more _vivid._ Every rustle of a leaf, miles away, resounded in their ears. They could feel the vibrations of life, however tiny, thrum beneath their feet. Happiness turned into euphoria, excitement into pure giddiness…and sadness into crippling depression. Anger into pure fury. And insecurity like Rebekah’s turning into distressing and gnawing anxiety. It was _killing her._

            “Monsters are disgusting,” Elijah said. “Monsters are unforgiving. Monsters are ruthless and don’t deserve to walk this earth.” Elijah paused again to let this sink in. “Rebekah. Would you say that we don’t have as much right to live here as anybody else?”

            Rebekah took a deep breath. “No, we don’t.”

            “Now why would you say that, little sister?” Elijah shook his head a little. Finally, Kol interjected, “Oh, she’s just feeling all insecure because some boy the next village over won’t give her a single glance over.” He blinked and grinned savagely. “Not that anyone would.”

            “Don’t you get tired of _hearing your own voice,_ Kol?” Rebekah demanded, advancing and pushing Elijah aside. She heard him sigh a little, but didn’t pay attention to it. It was only when Niklaus stepped in her way that Rebekah stopped at all. He put a firm hand on her shoulder and raised a single eyebrow as she glared over his shoulder at Kol, who was restrained by Finn. His hand was silently resting on Kol’s shoulder. It wasn’t a tight grip or an authoritarian one. But when it was Finn, it was enough to just to know that he was there. There was a level of authority and presence he had that the others could not replicate. Not exactly.

            “Now Rebekah, let’s not make trouble,” Klaus grinned. She could tell that he certainly wouldn’t mind a little trouble. Niklaus got bored easily, these days. Rebekah felt her lip curl at Kol’s taunting expression, but she turned away. _One_ of them had to be mature.

            “Good girl,” Niklaus said. “Now, how about a drink?”

            Before she realized it, her brother had steered her towards the maimed wolf. The smell of blood rolled over her and made her tremble.         

            “What’s wrong?” Kol jeered. “Scared?”

            “Kol,” Elijah sighed through the face on his hand, “be _quiet_.”

            Rebekah wasn’t scared. She wasn’t scared at all about eating the wolf. But she _was_ scared about how _badly_ she wanted to drink the blood that was on the wolf. She wanted to _rip apart its skin_ and _feel the blood on her lips_. She wanted to feel the warmth on her chin and her neck and she wanted to feel the thick, rusty liquid go down her throat and quench the thirst that no amount of water or wine she drank sated. She ground her lower teeth into the fangs that poked out from the top.

            “Rebekah,” Elijah told her quietly, “there’s no shame in being who we are.”

            So, with a small but firm push between the shoulder blades by Niklaus towards the body, Rebekah broke her vow for the seventh time that week. At first, she was at loathe to do it, but as time went on and she filled up like a tick with blood, her guilt melted away and turned into ecstasy. It was easier to breathe, now, and the night was brighter and clearer and sharper than before. The rising moon shone like the sun. The air was sharper, cleaner, crisper. Rebekah never felt so powerful in her life.

            “There,” Niklaus opened up his arms and smiled. “That wasn’t so bad, right? Really, Rebekah, we’ve already had this conversations countless times. You’d think you’d have gotten used to this, by now.”

            “Don’t,” Rebekah held up one hand. The other was busy wiping the extra blood off her face.

            “Well, now that we’ve all been properly fed,” Elijah sighed, again, “might we return home?”

            Slowly, the strange and bloodied group roused themselves, turning to go back to their rather large and spacious house situated comfortably in the center of the nearby town.

            Running, Rebekah had decided, was her favorite part of the entire thing, and she figured that having at least one part of this she liked was better than hating it all. She had never been able bodied or agile when she had been human. Running long distances had been a struggle for her, and she had always been left behind when her brothers had their childish races through the woods and back. But now she ran with them, feeling the exhilarating feeling of just _running_. The wind whipped through her hair and sped past her face and neck. Her dress snapped and flapped around her ankles. She felt the earth underfoot for mere fractions of a moment. Trees raced past her and leaves brushed her so quickly and so fast that it was more of a ghost of a feeling than reality. She felt free. She felt like she could go anywhere at any time. Nothing could catch her, nothing could keep up with her. If she wanted to, she could leave everything and everyone behind and just run. Run through the forests and the mountains and across great plains and just feel the earth pounding under her soles and the air rushing past her face.

            They had just cleared the lining of the trees and approaching the entrance of their house, the lights flickering and blazing between the windows, when Rebekah heard a shout behind her. She turned and skidded to a halt, the earth building up at her feet as she dug in her heels. In front of her stood Kol and Elijah, and behind her was Finn, who walked forward to stand at Rebekah’s side. When she glanced at him, she saw that his brow was furrowed and a deep set frown was on his face. Rebekah followed his gaze and froze.

            On the ground, writhing in the dirt, was Klaus, his body bending in ways that no human or vampire should. Bones were rolling and slithering underneath his skin, and his four siblings watched, they cracked, one after another. _Crack, crack, crack._ He shouted and screamed, clawing at the dirt ground and trying to make his way to the house. Instantly, Elijah and Finn were at his side, crouching and trying to get a grip on Niklaus, but he wasn’t making it easy for them. He was shaking and twisting out of their grasps as he screamed. Presently, Rebekah heard the door open behind her, but by then she had already rushed to Niklaus’ side.

            “Niklaus!” Rebekah shouted, kneeling and trying to hold his face, but he was shaking too much to get a handle on. “Niklaus, what’s wrong?”

            As if in an answer, Niklaus howled as his spine finally cracked in half, his back arching impossibly. He opened his eyes and stared at his siblings with yellow eyes like a dog’s, his mouth sagging open and full with sharpened teeth. Rebekah froze and retreated a little. Finn and Elijah stepped back fully. Kol actually seized the back of Rebekah’s dress to drag her back even farther. They had all seen those yellow eyes that Niklaus had.

            “Niklaus!” Rebekah heard her mother call through the clearing. She let her pass, and not far behind her was her father. She caught the look on his face as he passed. Disbelief. Worry. Some inklings of rage that he wasn’t sure if he should feel or not, yet.

            Rebekah watched as her mother took her place on the ground in front of Niklaus. Rebekah’s gaze flickered to the sky as the full moon reached its apex.

            “Mother,” Elijah finally spoke up as Esther began to mutter something. “Mother, Niklaus…he’s a…” He paused. “He’s a—”

            “What he is or isn’t doesn’t matter,” Esther interrupted him sharply, looking up at him to glare. “What matters is he is your brother and my son and he is in pain.”

            That quieted Elijah, but Kol was not so empathetic.

            “He’s a damned werewolf,” he announced darkly, his expression unreadable as he stared at what he could see of Niklaus behind his mother. Mikael twitched, his hand half reaching for the hilt of the sword in his scabbard, before he stepped forward and muttered something to Esther.

           “Later,” she implored him before returning to her incantation. Rebekah saw his jaw twitch, but he said nothing more. Instead, he turned his back and strode back into the house, his fury barely contained. And all of them outside knew why. As Klaus’ cries died down to painful moans underneath Esther’s hands, the siblings shifted uncomfortably. There were two ways one could become a werewolf: by ingesting the saliva of one, or by being of the same blood of one. The only werewolves that were anywhere near them was only a village over—as they all knew too well—and all of them knew Niklaus had never been bitten in his life.

            “Mother?” Rebekah spoke up at last, her voice sounding small.

            “Not now, Rebekah,” she said sharply as she stroked Niklaus’ hair.

            “Mother—” Elijah began hesitantly.

            “Not,” Esther practically hissed, “now.”


	2. Falling Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Klaus wakes up to an awkward family situation.

            Klaus took a deep breath and ground his teeth together. He felt feverish, cold sweat soaked his back, and underneath him he could feel fur. He was lying down—inside, he could tell. In his own home, with any luck. He tried to open his heavy eyelids, but what little he could see was blurred and unclear. Even with his new and improved vampire senses, things felt blurry and muffled. He felt like he was submerged miles and miles underwater. His entire body felt like it was being crushed.

            In some other room, Klaus recognized his mother’s voice and his father’s unmistakable shouts. They were the same shouts that he used whenever Niklaus did something to upset him—which was most of the time. Niklaus felt a small flash of frustration and anger at that, but it quickly faded as the voices became farther and farther away. His parents must’ve been going outside of the house. Or rather, judging by the fact that they were faint in the first place, they must’ve already been outside and going farther. Wearily and blearily, Niklaus finally opened his eyes completely and shook himself, trying to control his shudders despite the fire that was roaring at his back. He slowly inhaled and exhaled through the nose before taking in his surroundings at last.

            Sitting in a chair, expression unreadable, sat Elijah. He had changed out of his black shirt into a more comfortable gray one. Their other siblings were nowhere to be seen, but somewhere Klaus could hear them breathing. He couldn’t tell if they were asleep or not.

            “How are you feeling?” Elijah asked him. As an answer, Klaus painfully moaned.

            “What happened?” Klaus asked Elijah hoarsely after a moment, regaining his breath. When his older brother did not immediately answer, Klaus looked up to focus on his face. Elijah was as stoic as ever, which only meant that he was trying very hard to keep quiet about something.

            “Elijah,” said Niklaus, feeling his panic beginning to rise, “what’s wrong? What happened?”

            “Niklaus,” Elijah started, shifting a bit nervously in his chair, “I want you to approach this calmly.”

            “Elijah,” Niklaus repeated, his tone considerably more threatening. He worked himself into a half-sitting, half-lying position and reached out to grip the front of Elijah’s shirt, “ _what happened_?”

            Still, Elijah did not answer immediately, Instead, he sighed and swallowed hard, mentally preparing himself for what he was about to say. The fact that Klaus was practically strangling him didn’t faze him, especially now that he couldn’t die. Elijah was a bit concerned about how easily and casually he’d remember that.

            “You lost consciousness,” Elijah finally told Niklaus, who looked almost murderous at this point. “Mother nursed you back to health. Finn and I carried you inside and put you on the bed.”

            Klaus stirred and sat up completely. He ran a hand through all his hair and shook it all out.

            “Why did I faint?” Niklaus asked, knowing that Elijah was pointedly avoiding this question.

            “Niklaus…”

            “ _Elijah_ ,” Niklaus impatiently and mockingly mimicked his tone, “don’t test me.”

            Elijah took another deep breath before relenting, “You were turning."

             _That_ made Niklaus pause. He blinked and felt his brow furrow. He swung his legs off the side of the bed so he was looking at Elijah face to face.

            “I was turning?” he repeated, wanting to make sure his bionic hearing hadn’t lapsed all of a sudden.

            “Yes,” Elijah sighed, shutting his eyes as if preparing for the oncoming storm. “Into a werewolf.” To both Elijah and Klaus’ surprise, however, he did not begin shouting or exploding. Instead, he sat back a little and frowned a bit, as if this was a small, curious annoyance to him.

            “How can I be both a werewolf and a vampire?” Niklaus questioned aloud. Elijah only shook his head. Niklaus grappled with the concept that he was both a vampire and a werewolf—that would make him a sort of… _hybrid_ , wouldn’t it?—and that he, potentially, could be more powerful than even his own siblings. A vampire was strong, but a vampire and a werewolf together were certainly stronger.

            “Niklaus,” Elijah pulled him from his musings, “you couldn’t have become a werewolf _after_ you became a vampire.”

            Niklaus looked up and met Elijah’s serious gaze. “What are you trying to say?”

            “Niklaus, is there any way that you were bitten by a werewolf before we were turned?” Elijah asked—or rather, begged. It sounded as if he was pleading with Klaus to say that yes, Niklaus was bitten (even if he truly hadn’t). Niklaus was silent as he considered his brother, slowly putting the pieces together, and suddenly understood why Elijah was so concerned and wary of telling Niklaus the truth. Suddenly, Klaus shot up from his seated position and paced around the room.

            “Niklaus?”

            “No,” Klaus answered him. “No, I wasn’t bitten.”

            “Are you sure?” Elijah said, also rising to watch Niklaus stalk the bedroom. “Niklaus, please, think hard.”

            “I wasn’t!” Klaus roared at Elijah, who only blinked in response. Somewhere, they both heard the steady breaths of their supposedly sleeping siblings give pause.

            “I was never bitten, Elijah!” Klaus shouted. “I was never bitten, never ingested werewolf _spit_. Any werewolf that came close enough, I _killed_.”

            “I know that,” Elijah quietly reminded him, not twitching as Niklaus advanced on him.

            “Then _what are you trying to say_ , Elijah?” Niklaus demanded his older brother, his voice deadly and low.

            “If you were not bitten, then that means…” Elijah trailed off toying with the family ring that was forever on his hand. It was meant to go to the first born son, but of course, he died of the plague so many years ago, and the ring fell to Elijah. Ever since he inherited it, Niklaus and all his other siblings noted Elijah fidgeted with it or his daylight ring on his opposite hand when he was considering something very carefully.

            “That means you were born a werewolf,” a new voice finally cut into the conversation. Both of the brothers looked to see Rebekah standing in the doorway, having silently approached the room without either of them noticing. Niklaus felt his jaw jump, and Elijah gave a heavy sigh behind him. Clearly, this was not exactly the way he was planning on breaking the news to his younger brother. Of course, Niklaus was not overly surprised at Rebekah’s revelation. He had figured it out himself already, although he wasn’t exactly happy to hear it aloud. He knew what this meant. His mother had been unfaithful, and his father—no, _their_ father—now knew that Niklaus, the son that he hated, was not his own flesh and blood, after all. Without realizing when he started to, Niklaus began to feel terror, wondering what his father might do to him. He was moving out of the house before he was consciously thinking about it. He seized the belt and the scabbard with his sword attached to it and put it on before grabbing a sack and swinging it over his shoulder. He went around the room at high speed, filling the sack with clothes, weapons, and other small trinkets and oddities that he held most dear to him.

            “Niklaus,” Elijah called after him, “where are you going?”

            “Outside,” Klaus supplied. Rebekah moved out of the way as Niklaus barreled through the doorway. Before he had made it two feet outdoors, however, Finn and Kol appeared, blocking his way.

            “Move,” Niklaus ordered them.

            “Niklaus,” Finn said, “running won’t solve anything.”

            “No, but it certainly keeps the problem at bay for a while, doesn’t it, Finn?” Niklaus scowled a little.

            “Don’t be such a fairy, big brother,” Kol crowed, stepping in front of Finn, who rolled his eyes. _Here we go_.

            Instantly, Niklaus gripped Kol’s throat and backed him into a tree. It crunched under the force that Niklaus slammed him, but Kol wasn’t very concerned. In fact, he was practically smiling, which only made Niklaus squeeze tighter around his neck.

            “Don’t test my patience, Kol,” Niklaus warned him.

            “Or what?” Kol prodded. Niklaus inhaled through the nose and ground his teeth. Kol was always the most unruly out of all the siblings. He was going to get them all killed one day.

            “Niklaus!”

            The entire clearing outside the home froze as the siblings turned to see Esther standing at the forests’ entrance, Mikael not far behind. Immediately, Niklaus released his grip on Kol, who only rolled his shoulders and rubbed his neck a little with vague amusement and quite a bit of triumph in his smirk.

            “Mother,” Klaus greeted her stiffly. She only watched him carefully.

            “Niklaus, listen to me,” she commanded him, coming over to him and standing before him. He could feel the power rolling off of her. Nature itself giving her strength.

            “I’m glad you’ve awakened,” Esther said. She didn’t wait or skirt around the next part of the conversation.

            “I have disabled your werewolf abilities,” she told Klaus bluntly, who only swallowed and blinked.

            “What?”

            “I used a spell to block them,” Esther said. Her expression was stony. “You won’t be able to use them.”

            “Why would you do that?” Klaus asked her. He reached for her, just wanting to touch her shoulders and know his mother was there, but she shrugged him off, which chilled him. His hand hung in the air as she told him, “A werewolf-vampire hybrid is unnatural. It’s completely against all laws of nature. As a witch, I couldn’t allow such a thing to exist.”

             _Thing_. Klaus froze. _Thing_. Was that all he was to his mother?

            “Niklaus,” Esther said coldly, “the only way that you could have activated the werewolf gene was by taking human life.” She paused, as if waiting for him to say anything.

            “Did you hunt human?” she pressed him.

            “It was both of us, mother,” Elijah finally cut in to stand beside Niklaus. “We’re sorry. It was a mistake. It should never have been done.”

            “No, it shouldn’t have,” Esther narrowed her eyes. She was trying to tell if Elijah was telling the truth or trying to deaden the blow on Niklaus by dividing the blame.

            “Apologies won’t fix anything,” Esther finally said. “You’ve begun hunting humans. You’re taking human life. Do you know what you’ve started? How dangerous and immoral you’ve become?”

            Every word she said was like a dagger in Klaus’ heart. He felt himself falter a little and glanced at Elijah standing next to him. Elijah had lied. Only Klaus had killed and drank the human’s blood. Elijah came just a bit too late to stop him. Niklaus had the distinct feeling Esther knew Elijah was lying, as well. Behind him, he could feel the gazes of Finn, Kol, and Rebekah. The looks ranged from contempt to horror. He could feel them boring into his back. He’d never felt more isolated and alone in his life.

            “Enough of this,” Mikael finally joined the family meeting, striding forward. Niklaus involuntarily stumbled a few steps back. As a human, Mikael was intimidating. As a vampire, he was terrifying.

            “Father,” Niklaus entreated him, his eyes flickering to the sword at Mikael’s hip. It wouldn’t kill him, but it would certainly be _painful_.

            “I’m not your father,” Mikael said coldly. “You’re no son of mine, _boy_.”

            Somehow, the way he said “boy” was worse than how Esther called him a “thing”. Klaus backed away and Mikael’s hand drifted towards his sword…then behind him, to something he had looped onto his belt, no doubt. Klaus watched as Mikael brought it into view, revealing it to be a wooden stake sharpened to a very effective looking point.

            “Wood can’t kill me,” Niklaus reminded Mikael, although he didn’t really think he had forgotten.

            “No,” Mikael agreed, “it can’t, but it certainly hurts. And this is a special type of wood, regardless.” He waved it in the air and glanced it over appreciatively. “White oak. Your mother was kind enough to let me know that it is literally the only substance on this earth that can kill you.” He paused. “Fascinating, isn’t it? Having only one thing that you can die from?”

            “Mother?” Niklaus called to her, but she did not reply. She only watched. Niklaus swallowed and felt something snap.

            “ _You_ are my mother!” he shouted at her. “You are my blood. You made me! You created me. The reason I’m standing here is because _you willed it_ , and now you have the gall to stand there and watch me be killed? Why do you stand there as if I have done some crime?”

            Still, Esther did not stir, and Mikael continued to advance in that easy pace of his. Klaus felt a tree dig into his back. He quickly weighed his options. Running was really his best chance, although the chances were not good. Running from a man as ruthless and methodical as Mikael was not easy.

            Mikael was nose to nose with Niklaus at last, looking him over as if having second thoughts about killing him. But Niklaus knew better. The man that stood before him hated everything about him. Perhaps he knew. Perhaps he could tell from the moment Niklaus was born that he was not his.

            “Mikael,” Niklaus said, not sure of what he was going to say but needing to say something, regardless.

            In response, Mikael raised the stake and brought it down.

            Niklaus felt the tip pierce his skin, and that one small fraction of time was the most agonizing one of his life, but the wood did nothing more than break his skin. To everyone’s shock, Kol was holding Mikael to the ground, gripping the wrist of the hand that held the stake.

            “I never really did like you very much,” Kol confided, “but trying to kill my brother really is pushing things, father.”

            With a snort of impatience, Mikael threw the boy off. Kol flew through the air before landing yards away. Niklaus could hear the crack his bones made as he made impact with the ground, and the groan that escaped him as he got his breath back.

            “Father,” Elijah stepped forward, as did Finn and Rebekah, roused into action by Kol’s brashness, “please, don’t do this.”

            “Get out of my way, Elijah,” Mikael ordered, coming forward to hold the tip of his stake on Elijah’s neck. “This can kill you, too, you know. All of you.”

            Elijah warily glanced down at the weapon. Unfortunately for Mikael, he forgot that there were four other Mikaelsons he had to deal with. Niklaus was still too cautious to come near Mikael, but Kol was reckless and prideful. He seized Mikael’s arm, appearing out of thin air to snatch the dagger right from his hand. Elijah flinched as the tip nicked his skin. He glared at Kol reproachfully, but didn’t say anything as he rubbed the blood away, the wound already healing. Kol only had his impish smile on his face.

            “Kol—” Mikael began, but was cut off as Finn advanced, gripped his father’s shirt front, and literally threw him at the forest lining. The sound of Mikael’s head hitting the tree felt painful for all of them, and he lied still for a moment as he healed.

            “Right,” Elijah sighed, turning away from his father to address his siblings, “while he’s—”

            Whatever he was going to say was interrupted as a blade erupted from his chest. Elijah stared at it uncomprehendingly, as if wondering how that appeared there, before it was withdrawn and he fell to his knees, clutching his chest. Rebekah finally moved to action, pushing Mikael out of the way and kneeling to make sure Elijah was recovering. He was far from it. Instead, he looked to be having some sort of seizure.

            “Something on the blade,” he chocked, falling onto his side. “Burns.”

            Niklaus was immediately reminded of the flowers that Rebekah had tried to pick only days before, at the base of a tree, that had burned her fingers when she touched them.

            “Vervain,” Mikael supplied a name while twirling the now bloodied sword. “Another weakness, although it can’t kill you, so don’t worry, Elijah.”

            “Wonderful,” Elijah managed before coughing heavily, again. Mikael must’ve pierced a lung.

            “Mikael,” Klaus finally spoke up again, going to stand between Finn and Kol, who brandished the stake, “you can’t think that the odds are in your favor.”

            Mikael hesitated, for while he was prideful, he was not stupid. He cast his gaze at the three that stood before him and the quickly recovering Elijah behind them. Rebekah had stood up, now, as well. It was unlikely, Klaus thought, that she would be violent and ruthless against Mikael, but the fact that she was prepared to fight was reassuring and gratifying.

            Mikael ran his thumb over the hilt of his sword, weighing his chances, before Kol finally took a single step forward, stake in hand. Like a shadow, Mikael disappeared, sword and all, far enough away that none of the siblings could hear him moving through the forest.

            “Where’s mother?” Rebekah asked finally, for none of the siblings had spared a thought for her as they fought their father. All five of them turned simultaneously, trying to find signs of where their mother might have gone, but they found none.

            “Good riddance, really,” Kol shrugged, although it was obvious he was flustered by her sudden disappearance as they all were. He twirled the stake around, trying to be casual, as he said, “She obviously didn’t care for this family anymore, did she?”

            “Give me that before you hurt yourself,” Klaus snatched the stake from Kol. It was considerably heavier than he had expected, but it was whittled to meticulous perfection. As expected from Mikael.

            “Search for her,” Klaus ordered his siblings. “Split up.”

            “Why do—”

            “Kol, for once just do what I say,” Klaus entreated him. “I need her to tell me how to break the curse.”

            The others glanced at each other before Elijah pointed out, “Niklaus, the last thing mother or father wants is for you to become a hybrid. Don’t you think, in light of tonight’s…events, that you should be a bit more prudent?”

            “Prudent? Mikael tried to _kill me_.”

            “He did,” Elijah acknowledged, “and we fought him. For you. But if we’re going to fix the family, there are certain sacrifices on your part that—”

            “A _family_?” Klaus interrupted him. “With the man that tried to kill me? And yet you defend him and act as if this was nothing more than some small misunderstanding between father and son?”

            “Perhaps we just don’t want to actively seek out and murder our _father_ ,” Finn said blandly. Klaus glared at him, but Finn only seemed somewhat amused that Klaus would even try to intimidate him.

            “He’s not our father,” Niklaus spat.

            “You’re right; he’s not _your_ father,” Kol frowned.

            “Look what he’s done to us!”

            “Niklaus, we just want to—”

            “Just find mother,” Klaus ignored Elijah. He turned his back on his siblings and glared at the dirt. Eventually, he heard them run in opposite directions through the forest, fanning out to find Esther. As soon as he was alone, Niklaus roared at the night sky and at the ground and at the forest without really knowing what he was shouting about. No doubt the entire village nearby, the one they had to leave soon after turning into vampires because of the war with werewolves—Klaus’ _kin_ —heard him, as well as his siblings. Rebekah had paused. Niklaus could hear it. The others only ignored him.

            Aimlessly, Niklaus sped into the forest, blindly and randomly tearing at branches and trunks and leaves, trying to expend the anger that had overtaken him.

“Niklaus."

            Klaus whirled at the sound of Esther’s voice, the Original Witch standing only a few feet from him, considering him with an unfathomable expression. He held up the white oak stake, as if to use it against her. She did not seem concerned.

            “You’re looking for me.” It wasn’t a question.

            “You sold me out,” he accused her. “You were going to let Mikael kill me and everyone else.”

            “No, Niklaus. Why would I want that? I love you. I love this family. I love—”

            “Stop lying to me!” he shouted at her, then lowered his voice. He did not want his family showing up.

            “How do you break the spell you put on me?” he asked, not wanting to hear any more of her excuses.

            “What makes you think I’m going to tell you?”

            “Because if you are telling the truth, and if you really do love me,” Klaus said, stepping closer towards her, “then you will give me this, because it’s something that I sorely want.”

            Esther only stared at him. For a moment, he thought that she would not tell him.

            “You need a werewolf, a vampire, a witch, the moonstone, and the Petrova Doppelganger,” she said as he began to turn away. He cast a glance back at her.

            “Moonstone?” he repeated. He inched a little closer, narrowing his eyes. “The Petrova Doppelganger? What does Tatia’s family have to do with this?”

            “The moonstone is needed to access the power of the moon during the ritual to undo the curse,” Esther explained willingly enough. “As for the doppelganger…”

            “Doppelganger, doppelganger,” Klaus repeated, shaking his head uncomprehendingly. “What does that mean exactly?”

            “It means that, in some generations—maybe one, maybe one hundred—a woman of the Petrova bloodline will be born and will look exactly as Tatia did. That is a doppelganger—one that looks exactly like the original.”

            “But,” Klaus frowned, “why Tatia?”

            “I expect it has much to do with the fact that it was her blood you drank to complete the transition from human to vampire,” Esther said flatly. Niklaus opened his mouth and closed it again.

            “That was Tatia’s blood?” he asked. “You killed her?”

            “More accurately, your father did.”

            “He’s no father of mine.”

            “In any case,” Esther said almost impatiently, “after you gather these things, the witch must first channel of the full moon to break the moonstone, to which the spell is bound. Then, you must kill the werewolf, then the vampire, and then must kill the doppelganger by completely draining her of blood. It is very important that you do everything in that order and it is very important that you _kill_ the doppelganger as well as the other two sacrifices.”

            Klaus narrowed his eyes. “Why should I trust you?”

            “Well,” Esther shrugged a little, “do you have another choice?”

            There was truth in that. Klaus sighed helplessly and ran a hand through his hair. Finally, he said, “Thank you for your help, mother. Now, about father hunting us down…”

            “He only wants you, Niklaus,” she told him. “He won’t kill the others, and they’ll never turn against him. He is, after all, their father.”

            “Oh, I’ll convince them to go against him somehow.”

            “And how do you propose you do something like that?”

            Before she could blink, Niklaus swooped in and pierced her chest with his hand, gripping her heart and squeezing. He knew that he would have to do this quickly and without hesitation, for the Original Witch would not be forgiving. She shuddered and spluttered, blood spilling out of her mouth as she tried to focus, but she was too slow. Niklaus pulled out her heart. It was warm and sinewy and was still beating a little as a muscular reaction as he held it. It might’ve been his imagination, but at that moment, Klaus swore he saw vengeance in Esther’s eyes. But then she was dead, and there was no light in her eyes anymore.

            Klaus dropped the heart, breathing hard, then glanced at his bloodied hand.

            “Niklaus?” he heard Elijah’s voice coming closer. Klaus shot a look at the white oak stake he was holding in his clean hand, splintering and breaking, he had been gripping it so hard, before going to the nearest tree and piercing his own hand with the white oak stake, pinning him to the tree. He shouted and cried out at the pain. It was as if his entire hand was on fire.

            “Niklaus!” Elijah exclaimed as he saw him, taking in the sight of his clearly dead mother and his apparently incapacitated brother.

            “It was Mikael!” Niklaus moaned, gripping the white oak stake with his free hand as if to pull it out. His weakness was not feigned. He had not anticipated that he would be feeling so much pain. He could barely focus enough through it to close his hand around the stake.

            “Father?” Elijah echoed with disbelief.

            “Yes, yes, he ran as he heard you approach,” Niklaus said. Elijah only stared at him uncomprehendingly.

            “Elijah!” Niklaus gasped. “The stake!”

            Elijah shook himself a little before speeding forward. With a decisive motion, he pulled the thing from Niklaus’ bloody hand. Niklaus cried out again and fell to the ground, cradling his hand as the yawning gap in it began to close up.

            At the sound of his calls, Finn, Kol, and Rebekah appeared before Elijah. As Klaus recovered, Elijah spoke to them in low, fast tones, holding up the bloodied stake for them to see. Each one of them glanced at Klaus on the forest floor before going to the body of their mother to pay their respects. Rebekah was the most devastated, throwing her arms over her mother’s chest and sobbing into it. Finn bent down and put an arm around her shoulder, rubbing her arm. Out of all of them, the two of them were perhaps the closest to Esther.

            “So what now?” Elijah asked Niklaus quietly as they stood some distance away, watching their siblings mourn.

            “Now we find a rock and where the Petrovas have gone.”

            Elijah turned to look at Niklaus curiously. “Tatia’s family? What does she have to do with this?”

            “It was her blood we drank, Elijah,” Klaus told him heavily. “It’s her doppelganger’s blood that I need to turn into a hybrid, again.”

            “We _drank_ …?” Elijah trailed off, only hearing the first part of Klaus’ reply. He put a hand to his mouth as if he was going to be physically ill.

            “And what about father?” Elijah finally murmured.

            “What about him?”

            “Well, he’ll be coming after you. Us, by the looks of it,” Elijah muttered, looking back at the body of his mother, again.

            “Yes, he will,” Klaus kept his face carefully composed, “so we need to stick together. Be a family. And if he ever tracks us down…” Klaus nodded towards the stake still in Elijah’s hand. “We’ll kill him.”


	3. An Upset

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elijah is grappling with morals, again.

            “So now what?” Finn raised an eyebrow at Klaus, who scowled. Finn never raised his voice, and he never sounded impatient or demanding, but there was a distinct condescending tone when he spoke. It always rubbed Klaus the wrong way, even though Kol also had that way about him. Perhaps it was because Finn did not outright say that he disapproved about almost everything fun.

            “What do you mean?” Klaus cocked his head a little, making sure he didn’t lose his temper. Just the way that Finn looked at him sometimes…that distinct expression of disapproval always troubled him.

            Finn stared at him like he wasn’t sure if Klaus was being serious. Elijah stepped in before Finn could get in another word, however. He had witnessed very heated arguments between Finn and Niklaus in the past. Although they’d never come to blows (Elijah personally believed Finn thought himself too above the others to actually throw a punch), when they really got going, the tension between them was positively electrifying.

            “Niklaus, I’m sure Finn was only referring to the fact that _you_ are the one that is searching for the Petrova bloodline. We’ve buried mother, and our father is still out there somewhere. We only wonder where we’re to start.”

            “Simple,” Klaus scowled. “We start walking.” He turned on his heel and began in a random direction, honestly not sure where to start himself, when he realized that his siblings were not following him. He paused then, and glanced over his shoulder. There they stood, stiff and unyielding.

            “That isn’t good enough for us, Niklaus,” Elijah sighed, toying with his ring, again.

            “What do you mean it _isn’t good enough for you_?” Klaus repeated, advancing menacingly. “To break the curse on me, I need the blood of the Petrova doppelganger.”

            “And why is it that you need _us_ to come with you?” Finn finally spoke up again, blinking slowly. Niklaus opened his mouth, closed it, then protested loudly, “We’re family! Surely that’s reason enough?”

            The others hesitated, eyeing each other apprehensively.

            “Nik, the problem isn’t that we don’t think you’re family,” Rebekah said quietly, “but are you sure you want to break the curse? Mother put it on you for a reason, didn’t she?”

            _No, she just wanted to cover up a mistake,_ Klaus thought to himself. Instead, he sighed and said, “Fine. If we don’t go to break the curse, then what are we to do? Stand here and wait for the world to go by?”

            “I think it hardly matters,” Elijah said somewhat forlornly, “as long as we’re together.”

            Niklaus swallowed and shifted, knowing that if he refuted this, the rest of his siblings would probably turn their backs. It was a wonder Finn and Kol hadn’t abandoned them already, although Niklaus had already made a promise with Rebekah and Elijah to stay together. Even though Klaus found Kol and Finn _unbearable_ in their own unique and special ways, the thought of them abandoning him and giving him the cold shoulder made him tremble a little. Being a bastard son and being the only hybrid in existence that was renounced by both his mother and his father had left him rather raw.

            “Of course,” Klaus finally said woodenly. “Nothing else matters.”

            His siblings looked visibly relieved that he had agreed, as if they were afraid he would go rabid and kill them all at any given moment. He wondered what they thought of him, now that they knew he was no longer their full brother and part werewolf, on top of that.

            They stood in the clearing, considering each other and the old house that sat empty beside them. The surrounding area was quiet. All the villagers, no doubt, had either fled or been killed by the recent war.

            “Let’s go for a hunt,” Elijah finally suggested. “Then we can decide what we’ll do next.”

            There was a general murmur of assent before the entire group sped off in different directions, fanning out to find prey. Niklaus personally wished that there were a few more humans left here. It might’ve been unnatural and disgusting, fine, but he couldn’t deny that there was a particularly satisfying flavor in human blood that no predator or herbivore could quite match. He wasn’t sure how to describe it, however, and he wasn’t particularly eager to share his craving with his siblings. So he settled for hunting the small herd of deer running a few miles ahead of him. The taste was bland and grainy, but it was enough. Niklaus impulsively killed three more than he could actually eat—being about two—and stood in the center of a ring of dead deer, mouth and hands bloody. And that was how Elijah found his younger brother.

            “Are you alright?” he asked. Klaus just stared at him, wondering if his brother was being serious.

            “I know that this isn’t what you want,” said Elijah, licking the last bit of blood on his hands. Next to Elijah, Klaus seemed like some sort of savage. Elijah’s clothes were clean and his mouth was unstained. It was as if he had never drunk any blood at all. He was refined, mature, and dependable. Noble and honorable. Everything Klaus was not.

            “I just want to know,” Elijah sighed, “why you’re so bent on breaking the curse.”

            “Why?” Klaus repeated, stepping over the carcass and glaring at Elijah. “Why would I want to break the curse put on me by my own mother? The curse that is stifling my birthright?”

           “Your _birthright_ ,” Elijah nodded slowly, saying it as more of a statement. Niklaus immediately backed off and sighed, “Of course, I didn’t mean that I don’t consider _you_ and the others not my—”

            “Niklaus,” Elijah cut him off, “it’s all right.” He held up one hand and gave him a small smile. Klaus didn’t believe the look for a second.

            “We have eternity to break the curse,” Elijah said. “We have many things to gather, according to you.”

            Niklaus nodded and sighed, knowing that Elijah was going to pull a fast one on him sometime very soon. He had run through the curse and the requirements to break it with Elijah in private, knowing that, out of all of them, he would be able to keep a secret.

            “So while we tear up the entire earth looking for a moonstone and searching for Tatia’s reincarnation, why don’t we just…” Elijah swung his hands out to his sides and held them open. He considered the sky for a moment before looking back at Klaus.

            “Enjoy ourselves a little?” Elijah suggested, bringing his hands back to his chest and idly twisting the family ring.

            “I’m surprised you haven’t gotten rid of that,” Klaus avoided the subject, eyeing the ring. Elijah raised an eyebrow and looked at the ring as well.

            “I’m not sure what you mean.”

            “You hate the thing,” Klaus smiled knowingly. “You hate what it means, especially since you’re _wearing_ it.”

            Elijah didn’t agree, but he didn’t deny it, either. Instead, he asked, “What do you think? An eternity of life? What else is there to do but see the world?”  
            “Did Rebekah put you up to this?” Klaus grinned a little. Elijah chuckled, but shook his head.

            “No, she didn’t.”

            Niklaus’ smile still lingered as he cast a gaze around the forest, remembering all the moments he had had in this place with his family. He thought that he would grow up here, settle down here, have children here, have a lifetime of choices as to what kind of life he would have…and now he had twenty lifetimes, or sixty, or hundreds of lives he could decide for himself. For a moment, he was aware of how strange his existence was, and how the world and life expanded before him forever. He would outlive anything and anyone he ever met—except for his family. He turned back to Elijah, who had been carefully watching him the entire time. Niklaus recognized that Elijah had thought about all of this himself, already. Of course he did. That was obviously the only reason he was anxious for the family to stay together.

            “Everyone’s waiting.”

            Niklaus nodded again to show that he had heard. “Alright. Yes, fine.”

            “I’m sure there will be ships leaving in a few days,” Elijah continued, stepping aside as Klaus moved forward. He fell in step beside him. “We can go to Europe. Start our search there, perhaps, but—”

            “Why Europe?” Klaus asked. “Do you know if the Petrovas fled across the sea?”

            “Well, no,” Elijah shrugged a bit uncomfortably, “but father is in this country. Do you really want to stay awhile?”

            “Of course not.”

            “That’s what I thought.”

            “Elijah. Always making the best choices.”

            “Well, there is a slight problem if we decide to get passage over the sea,” Elijah pointed out. Klaus’ brow furrowed. Elijah looked at him as if he thought Klaus was only playing dumb.

            “Blood,” Elijah finally said. “Niklaus, they won’t exactly have animals for us to slaughter there, and even if they do, they’ll be cooked within weeks, or else discarded. What will we eat? Fish?”

            “Human,” Niklaus suggested without missing a beat. Elijah stopped while Klaus went on a few more paces. He finally paused when he realized Elijah was not beside him and looked back.

            “What?” Niklaus demanded impatiently. “What other option is there, Elijah? You said so yourself, they won’t have animals lined up for us to feed upon. What other choice do we have? Don’t forget, you’re the one that said we have to leave the country, yourself.”

            “I know,” Elijah relented almost impatiently, pacing a little. “I know that. But drinking _human blood_ —”

            “—is no different from drinking any other animal’s blood—no, think about it, Elijah!” he cut off his brother’s protest. Klaus bit his lower lip for a moment to stop himself from shouting at Elijah. He understood why he was hesitant. He was a moralistic man. But if Klaus could just get Elijah on his side, he knew that Elijah would convince everyone else for him, as well. So he kept his patience in check.

            “I understand why you’re hesitant, Elijah,” Klaus began anew, “but we must do what we need to in order to survive. What’s a few missing humans in the grand scheme of life? We need to focus on staying together. Being a family.”

            “Those humans you propose consuming also have families, Niklaus. Lives.”

            “And I’m sorry for that. But what would you have us do? Stay here like sitting ducks, waiting for Mikael to return? He may very well be watching us right now, for all we know.”

            Elijah cast a single, fleeting glance at the trees surrounding them.

            “It’s not so bad once you get started,” Niklaus added quietly. Elijah stiffened and widened his eyes in disbelief.

            “Need I remind you that it was your foolhardiness that started this in the first place?” Elijah hissed, his usually carefully composed gaze flashing. He climbed the few steps up the slope that Klaus stood on to stare at him straight in the eye.

            “You are my brother, and I would give my life to save yours. But do not make the mistake of thinking that you are completely guiltless in this, Niklaus. Mother should not have kept such a secret from us—from all of us—and father should not have tried to kill you for something that you could not help. But _you_ should have known better than to take human life. Had you carried on with animals, we would not be standing here now, discussing a fool’s errand.”

            “And what’s so foolish about it, brother?” Niklaus narrowed his eyes. He held his ground, although he had to admit that he was panicking a little. He needed Elijah’s support. If his siblings had to choose between him or Elijah, Niklaus had no doubt that most—if not all—would flock to his older brother instead of himself. And Elijah was not to be trifled with when he was angry, in any case. He was as deadly as the rest of them.

            “You propose we raze the earth’s surface to find a _rock_ and a _doppelganger_ of Tatia, whose bloodline we are not even sure _exists_ anymore! And we don’t even know _when_ the doppelganger will appear! So tell me, brother, what detail have you failed to tell me of breaking the curse? What spell or trick is there to find the doppelganger and this stone? How do you propose we check every nook and cranny of the entire world? What advantage have we?”

            “Time,” Niklaus answered, fighting to keep his voice calm. Elijah, in contrast, has raised his, which made Niklaus very nervous. None of the siblings liked to admit it, but when Elijah yelled at them—really started to yell—they all quivered a little, especially when they had been younger. Elijah’s composure and usual level-headedness made his outbursts even more distressing. And usually, Elijah was right.

            Elijah scoffed at Niklaus’ inadequate answer, shook his head, and turned his back on him to look skyward, as if hoping some sort of god would come down and smack some sense into his brother’s brain.

            “I know the conditions are not exactly ideal.”

            “That is a severe understatement.”

            “Most technically, you’ve drunk human blood before.” Niklaus muttered it, not sure if he really wanted Elijah to hear him or not. It didn’t much matter; Elijah heard him as if Niklaus had said it directly into his ear.

            “How dare you use Tatia’s death as an excuse to begin feeding on humans, again,” Elijah said, his voice dangerously level as he turned back to Klaus. “None of us knew that it was her blood! None of us even knew that it was _human_ blood. You think we would’ve taken it, had we known?” Elijah paused as if thinking of something.

            “Would you have taken it, Niklaus?”

            “Are you really asking me that?” Niklaus responded in a tone just as sharp.

            “Should I not?”

            “No, you shouldn’t.”

            “I see. Forgive me. It’s just that out of everyone here, _you_ just happen to be the only one who has taken human blood twice.”

            Niklaus punched Elijah full in the mouth. He couldn’t stop himself. His fist was up and breaking Elijah’s nose before he even realized it was. He felt the bones crack and heard them fracture underneath his knuckles. Elijah, on his part, did not seem overly surprised. And he did not respond with his own blow, which only made Klaus angrier. Did his brother think himself too high and mighty to exchange blows with Klaus? Was that how much knowing Klaus had killed human affected Elijah? He adjusted his jaw as it began to heal, massaging it and blinking at Niklaus. There was not disappointment or anger in his eyes. Just simple acceptance. Klaus could almost hear his thoughts. _My brother is too far gone. This is who he is now._

“Are you two done with your catfight?” The pair looked up to find Kol perched in the branch of a tree a few feet above them. He was grinning as if he was sorely hoping they would respond in the negative. They glared at him as he jumped down. Kol had always done devilishly daring things when he was human. He always climbed higher, jumped from higher heights, went further and further away from the house for longer hours in the day. As the youngest boy, perhaps he just wanted to prove himself. Wanted to shine. Next to Klaus, who, besides father, seemed to have approval from everyone else, and Elijah, who won hearts with his honesty, and Rebekah, the very youngest and the only daughter, perhaps Kol felt lost in the shuffle. Admittedly, Finn also seemed to blend into the background, but then again, he never much seemed to care.

            Now that Kol was a vampire, however, he seemed to have attained this heightened sense of importance. Life-threatening expeditions and risks were nothing to him. He was greater than human. He was beyond mortality. Out of the billions in the earth, he was one of the six vampires in existence—although privately, Niklaus thought that Kol would’ve preferred to be the _only_ vampire in the world. But he also knew that Kol wouldn’t kill family—except Mikael, now.

            “We could hear you whining from leagues away,” Kol smirked, glancing from Elijah’s healing bruise to Klaus’ bloodied fist. His black eyes were shining with amusement, although they always seemed to be so, even when Kol was crying inside.

            “Don’t we get a vote?” Kol suddenly asked, tilting his head to the side.

            “About what?” Elijah finally sighed, shutting his eyes to mentally prepare himself.

            “About sucking humans, of course,” Kol smiled a little.

            “Kol—”

            “Thank you, Elijah, but I’m very much capable of thinking on my own,” Kol blinked once. When Elijah didn’t say anything more, he continued, “I agree that drinking human blood would be the obvious solution, especially if we’re going by boat to Europe. We’ll become half-dead, if we don’t. Or did you forget what happened to Rebekah when she couldn’t stomach drinking blood?”

            None of them liked to remember it, but they could vividly visualize Rebekah’s skin beginning to brown and sink into her skull. They could see the bones begin to stick out with painful clarity. Her hair tinned and her eyes bulged out of her head. She couldn’t move or speak. Even if at that point she had wanted to hunt, she couldn’t have said so. If they hadn’t force-fed her when they did, they didn’t know what would have happened to her.

            “And obviously Klaus is too much of a coward to stay in this land,” Kol added. Klaus clenched his jaw but didn’t rise to the bait. No matter how he was saying it, Kol was advocating Klaus’ side, here.

            “Kol.”

            “Elijah.”

            With a frustrated exhale, Elijah relented, “Fine. So you and Niklaus are for feeding on humans. But that still leaves Rebekah, Finn, and I. They’ll never agree to this.”

            “Elijah, please,” Klaus appealed to him. If they could just get Elijah on their side, everything would work itself out. “I’m sure there are ways to feed on humans without killing them completely. And we can tell them not to tell anyone. Keep the secret. With the…” Kol waved a hand near his eyes.

            “Whatever this thing is,” he finally said when no one replied or agreed with him. “You know.”

           They did know. It was a strange skill they had acquired along with all the other aspects they acquired with vampirism. Influence other people to do whatever they wanted to do.

            Elijah didn’t look particularly convinced, however, although he did look a bit more willing to listen. Klaus leapt on this chance.

            “Elijah, you know that some animals have walked away when we kill them. Why would it be different for humans? We can stop feeding when we want to. We’ll have control.”

            “But will we be willing to keep it?”

            “If you’re not going to be faithful in our basic morality, Elijah, then at least accept that we’re not stupid enough to slaughter an entire ship of people within a week.”

            Elijah shut his eyes, again, as if grappling with a very great moral battle—which, for him, probably was great. Then he opened them. His expression was unreadable. It was impossible to tell if he was at loathe saying what he did then or not.

            “Fine.” 


End file.
